So much going on...

Well, this week sure was interesting! On Monday I had my English test. It turns out that I didn’t even need to know most of the stuff that I studied (i.e. authors of poems, passages). I’d forgotten what English tests are like! It’s all about analysis and interpretation, and that’s quite hard to study. The worst part is that you don’t really know how well you did, because the questions are so open ended. For example “here is a passage from the play ‘Twelfth Night’. Discuss the theme of love and identity based on this passage.” And then you’re expected to write on topic. But how much do you write? How detailed is it supposed to be? You write as much as you think is necessary, but is it enough? This you will never know until you get your results back. Our poem analysis was similar.

We also got a poem and had to analyze it. In an example test that we got given from last year you had to give the name of the author who wrote the poem (we have a course book with poems in it and the lecturer chooses a poem from there to use in the test) so I tried to memorize the poem authors from our course book. But we didn’t have to give any names in the test! Grr! Well, English is really all about common sense and opinions and understanding what you are reading so you don’t really need to memorize anything apart from quotes. I’d forgotten that part, since I haven’t done English as a subject since the end of 7th form (2005)! And all my science subjects require learning and memorizing.

I also had a genetics test on Friday morning at 9am. So I spent all week studying genetics!! So great, I enjoy my genetics study so much!! Finally I found my area of biology! (first I thought it was cell bio but then no that wasn’t it) Heh heh! Medellian genetics and genetics in general is awesome with punnet squares and dihybrid/monohybrid crosses and independent assortment and ratios and… well I won’t bore you with all the details but the things we learn are really fascinating!! The biology lab that we had this week was quite good, we studied blood samples. And we didn’t even have to write up a lab report or anything like that!

In the weekend I found a job!! Well actually two jobs. But I didn’t really find them, they found me instead! My mum has a Russian friend who likes to write and illustrate books. She writes stories in Russian and then gets them translated into English. Mum told her that I translate things often (I do it a lot for Mum and her Ballet School paperwork) and she asked me to translate one of her stories! It’s a children’s picture book for tourists about Driving Creek Railway, a place in Coramandel (top of the north island of NZ). So far I’m half way through!

The other job that I got was a babysitting! Mum’s friend has a friend who has 3 boys aged about 5, 9 and 13. They recently came to NZ from Germany, and often the parents need someone to stay with the boys. I have always wanted to baby-sit (all the Baby-sitters Club books (Ann. M. Martin) that I’ve read!) and my Mum’s friend knew that so she told her friend about me. She first asked me to sit for her boys in the April holidays, but unfortunately I had classes at the time, but said that if there was any other time they needed a sitter I would be very glad be one! So then on Thursday night I get a call from the mother of the boys saying she needs a sitter for Saturday night! I was so excited! So I went to my job and it was great! I had bought along ‘Harry Potter and the philosopher’s Stone’ video just in case. And it turned out that all the boys like Harry Potter so we ended up watching the movie until their parents got home! We had a great time and I promised the boys that next time I come to babysit I will bring the 2nd and 3rd and 4th Harry Potter movie! The parents said that I can be their regular sitter from now on whenever they go out! Yeaaa!!!!! After all these years that I’ve wanted to baby-sit!

My sister’s dream had also come true. My parents finally let Linda get a dog!! It has probably been her life-long dream! And now it has come true! I’m so happy for her!!! We will be looking for a dog now… (!!) A Bitzon-feez (small podle-like dog, not sure how to properly spell it)!!

On Friday, apart from doing my genetics test, me and my family went to our friends house because it was our family friend’s birthday. We have known this family since the year we first came to NZ, they were one of the first families we met. And we have been friends since. They have 3 boys, and the oldest is Roma who’s my age and he has a brother Danya who’s Linda’s age and another brother who’s 7. It was their Dad’s birthday and me and Mum baked him a cake! Reminds me of a type of cake that comes in Barbie doll sets! I was responsible for the coloured icing! Heh! Heh!
We just found out that a friend of our family passed away. So sad, he was my friend’s granddad, and I knew him. Feeling a bit sad right now, I can’t even go to his funeral because it’s tomorrow morning and I have classes. Sigh. He was always so nice, and he loved to play the piano and listen to me play too. My friend Jane must be feeling terribly sad right now. Sigh. But the world keeps spinning and life goes on. And tomorrow is the start of a brand new week…